


And Then Some

by highfalutin baby birb (fevered_dreams)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood and Injury, Fluff, Lance is a chill vampire, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, Slow Burn, Vampires, some buddy cop adventures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-06-18 09:36:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15482871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fevered_dreams/pseuds/highfalutin%20baby%20birb
Summary: The barrier between the Human and Mysitc Worlds has finally broken. Of course, that means everything is an absolute mess now.And, somehow, that means that Special Investigator Shiro has to live with a vampire in order to study him. This wasn't what he had envisioned when he joined the Magic and Mystery Department, but maybe it isn't all that bad if all vampires are this cute.Now, if only Keith can figure out how to stop arguing with Lance so much, he might also find that Lance is pretty cute.At least they have plenty of time getting to know each other as they try to deal with the influx of magical creatures hell-bent on wreaking havoc everywhere.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> wow it's me, starting another story while all my other ones are super not finished!!!!
> 
> idk, i'll figure it out eventually, hopefully
> 
> spoiler alert tho: vampires in this story aren't going to be all that exciting, i think haha. just a warning, just in case!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow it's me, starting another story while all my other ones are super not finished!!!!
> 
> idk, i'll figure it out eventually, hopefully
> 
> spoiler alert tho: vampires in this story aren't going to be all that exciting, i think haha. just a warning, just in case!

Contrary to all the stories he had read growing up, the vampire in front of him wasn't really what Shiro would consider pale. In fact, his skin was a nice, honey brown that looked unfairly good under the bright fluorescent lights.

He also noted that the vampire's big, blue eyes were unlike the glowing red orbs of terror that he had heard about as a child. In fact, not much about the young man in front of Shiro seemed to be all that vampiric. The toothy smile that cut through his boyish face revealed hints of his fangs, pointed and distinctly otherworldly, but, honestly, he was so cute that Shiro couldn't find it in him to be intimidated in the slightest.

In fact, life since the joining of the two worlds had pretty much continued as normal. Well, as normal as things could be with all the sudden changes.

In fact, just the other day, a strange slug-like creature had climbed out of his toilet right as Shiro was getting ready to sit himself down on the seat. He was about ready to flush the thing down with the strongest drain cleaner he had before it spoke to him.

"Hey, kid, do you know how I can get to the sewers? I've been swimming through all these pipes for ages, but all I've found are people's bathrooms. Yours is one of the cleanest ones I've visited, though, so props to you."

The slug man's voice had been surprisingly deep and gritty, even though Shiro couldn't even tell where his mouth was. Silence fell over them as Shiro worked through his surprise, but it only lasted a moment before he figured that he might as well learn to adapt sooner than later, or else he was going to be inflicting innocent slug people with chemical burns.

And wouldn't that be sad?

"Well, I don't know if I can direct you to the sewers from my toilet, but I can take you somewhere that should take you right to them. That is, if you're ok with me carrying you there?" Shiro had asked.

"That'd be much appreciated, kid, as long as you put me in some water first."

Carefully, Shiro had scooped up the slug man in a small trash can that was certainly getting thrown away later and took him to the storm drain outside of his house.

"Well, here we are. You sure the sewers are where you're trying to go?" Shiro had asked.

The slug man had peered down at the storm drain curiously for some time before he spoke. "Yeah, I think this'll work! It looks like the ones we had in my world, so I bet it'll lead the same place. Thanks for the help, kid! And that's a nice arm you have there, that's some real high-quality magical craftsmanship!"

Before Shiro could respond, the slug man had leapt out of the trash can before quickly squirming towards the storm drain. And that was the end of that. Fairly strange, yet, in light of everything else that had been happening recently, also a bit mundane.

So, Shiro had already had a few chance encounters with a variety of magical entities, most of them quite boring. A vampire, though, was new, and his boss was quite the curious fellow. At the first sight of the vampire out in broad daylight, Dr. Holt had begged Shiro to help him convince the stranger to be their own little vampire encyclopedia.

"Please, Shiro, this is the first vampire that I've heard about since the barrier broke," Dr. Holt had said, voice dipped into an eager whisper as he glanced over at Lance. "I was beginning to think that they didn't even exist at all! We can't just let him fall out of our sights without learning about him and his kind."

"But we have no reason to be questioning him about anything," Shiro had responded, "so we can't hold him here without a reason."

"We're not going to _hold_ him here. We're going to ask if he would mind teaching us a few things about vampires. It's a simple enough request, don't you think?"

So, here Shiro was, staring at a vampire named Lance from across his desk, according to the brief memo he was given.

"So, what you're saying is, is that you want me to help teach you guys about vampires?" Lance asked slowly. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously and his body tense.

Shiro didn't blame him, but he pushed on anyway. "Essentially, yes."

"And what exactly will I get out of it?" Lance asked. He still looked unconvinced about the whole thing, but some part of him was apparently considering it.

"That's what we're here to discuss," Shiro said, giving Lance what he hoped was his most welcoming smile. "We're willing to reward you for your help." He paused, before quickly adding, "Within reason, of course." The Magic and Mystery Department had been quickly losing funds after the barrier had finally broken, so Shiro couldn't promise too much. 

Lance sighed before speaking. "Well, you see, I'm a leogard breeder. It's pretty lucrative, you know, and so much fun because they're just so cute."

Shiro nodded even though he did not know.

"My old house didn't survive the fall of the barrier very well, though. I used to live real close to one of the barrier's roots, so I'm actually pretty lucky that most of my stuff and leogards survived. But the temporary housing that I've been put into isn't close to big enough for the leogards."

Lance paused, eyes forlorn, and Shiro sympathized. While the Magic and Mystery Department was, understandably, close to one of the barrier's now-defunct roots, the Special Investigations Building was sturdy and capable of weathering the fall with little fanfare.

Still, the bit of damage it did sustain was enough to leave Shiro feeling unsettled and bereft. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like to lose his actual home.

"Anyway, my leogards are getting stressed as a result. One even escaped the other day for a few hours. An upset leogard can be serious trouble, especially seeing as how most people don't know how to handle them. I have a good amount of money saved up, so it wouldn't be too much trouble for me to buy a new place, but it's been hard to get much recently with how long it's taking to merge currencies and whatnot."

Lance suddenly unfolded his legs and leaned forwards, elbows on the table and gaze hopeful. " _So_ , I was wondering if there was some way I could get a temporary place to house my leogards until I can find myself someplace more permanent? It would be in everyone's best interest if these leogard's had somewhere big enough to run around and play so they don't go stir crazy."

Shiro still had no idea what a leogard was, but Lance's request sounded reasonable enough, even with their limited resources.

"I'll work on it," Shiro said, folding his arms on the table in front of him, "First, though, I'll probably need to check out these leogard's for myself to see exactly how much of an issue they'll be if we don't get you a place to house them. Then I'll see what I can do."

"So, do you want to see my leogard's now? I'm free whenever you are."

Thus, sooner than he had expected, Shiro was driving to Lance's temporary apartment with Dr. Holt and Keith in tow. Dr. Holt because he had insisted on observing Lance and discovering what a leogard was. Keith because he was the bad cop to Shiro's good cop.

At least, that's what people assumed he was. In reality, Keith was just a bit awkward. Nonetheless, he was a great partner.

Shiro supposed that was why Keith was not-so-menacingly thrusting a bag of garlic at Lance, eyes narrowed in determination to watch for any sign of weakness or discomfort.

"What, are you giving me a house-warming gift?" Lance asked, reaching for the garlic. "It's a bit weird, but I'll totally take it. So, you can just hand them to me instead of shoving it in my face like that."

Lance reached behind him towards where Keith was sitting in the backseat, only to have Keith pull the garlic away with a perplexed scowl. Lance cocked his head to the sight in confusion and a touch of indignation, and Shiro sighed. Lance had already seemed wary of Keith, based on the deep frown and tilt of his head when they first met, and it was already getting worse.

"So, you're not affected by garlic, then?" Dr. Holt asked, thankfully breaking some of the tension.

"No?" Lance said hesitantly. "I mean, I like garlic, I guess, but I wouldn't say that I like it so much that I'm affected by it."

"But it isn't harmful or irritating to you at all?" Shiro could already see the gears working in Dr. Holt's head.

"No, who told you that?"

Excitedly, Dr. Holt began rambling off common vampire tales to Lance, including all of the coffins, bats, seduction, garlic aversion, and the occasional sparkling skin. In return, Lance only grew more incredulous before letting out an amused laugh after Dr. Holt had finished listing all of the vampire preconceptions he knew. 

"Sorry to disappoint, but being a vampire really isn't that exciting."

"Oh, no, not disappointing at all! Whatever you can tell me, I'm more than willing to take!"

Before Lance had a chance to say much more, they arrived at Lance's apartment complex, and Shiro finally got a brief moment to breathe.

The building itself was understated, but Shiro spotted a few people, both human and magical beings wandering around. They all looked tired, Shiro noted sadly.

Lance's apartment, too, felt a bit tired. It was definitely small, especially considering the four beasts that were lounging in the living room, crowded tightly together in such a small space. Looking at them, Shiro completely understood Lance's desire for a larger living space.

Even the smallest of them was roughly the size of a fully-grown adult leopard. Their appearance more closely resembled lions, though, seeing as one of them had a large mane similar to that of a male lion. They were all adorned with glossy-black fur, though their undertones shimmered with a variety of different colors distinct from one another. Their eyes, too, were beautiful and bright as they stared down the new visitors.

Despite how intimidating they were as they stared down at Shiro from where he stood in the doorway, pupils slitted and posture apprehensive, it was undeniable that they were absolutely gorgeous.

However, they all immediately relaxed at the sight of Lance barreling towards them.

"There are my sweeties!" Lance cooed, eyes alight with joy as his leogards jumped towards him. One of them greeted Lance the same way Shiro's old dog did - standing on his hind legs as his two front paws rested on Shiro's chest. Except, the leogard was so large that it's huge paws rested on top of Lance's shoulders for a few moments before Lance fell backwards with a happy grunt. Now that he was on the floor, the leorgards were all free to nuzzle and brush their bodies against Lance with vigor, deep purrs filling the room.

Keith looked as overwhelmed as Shiro felt, but Dr. Holt was soaking in the scene with wonder.

"So, these leogards, are they considered household pets?" Dr. Holt asked, stepping forward slightly. The leogards eyed him for a moment before turning their attention back on Lance after deciding he wasn't a threat.

"For some people, especially richer folk! But some parts of their body, like their whiskers, fur, nails, and teeth can be used as ingredients in a lot of potions and the like. For those, the leogards are usually housed in a large sanctuary that harvests those ingredients in a safe and humane way," Lance explained.

"How many leogards cubs do you raise in a season?" Dr. Holt asked. One of the leogards was now sniffing him curiously, lifting a paw up briefly as if to touch him before setting it back down and heading towards Shiro and Keith.

"Well, leogards only breed once per year, and it's rare for a more than three cubs to be born to a single litter. This year I got two girls."

"It seems like you wouldn't be able to make much money out of it if you're only selling two a year," Keith said. He was eyeing the leogards suspiciously now that all four appeared more interested in the newcomers than Lance. Shiro, too, felt a bit nervous around them, but their expressions were more akin to inquiring kitten than ferocious big cat sniffing out its next meal, so he figured it was probably fine.

Hopefully.

"I'm one of the only reputable leogard breeders in the world, though, and they're such wonderful, useful, and rare creatures that people are more than willing to pay _a lot_ of money for them. So, I do more than fine. I also brew some of the potions that use leogard ingredients, alongside visiting leogard sanctuaries every now and then to help them best take care of them, so that also adds to my income nicely."

Now that the leogards weren't swarming him, Lance was on his feet again, attention focused on Shiro. "Long story short, these leogards are super fancy and expensive, and they're pretty much my main source of income. So, I'd greatly appreciate having a larger place for them so they don't get so stir crazy that something unfortunate happens."

Shiro could definitely see the reason in that, considering how easily he was knocked off-balance at a single swipe from one of the leogard's paws at a loose thread hanging off of his jacket. It had barely even touched him, and the leogard didn't look at all like it was expending much energy, but he could still barely keep his footing. A few restless, stressed leogards running around wild would definitely cause some problems, for others and Lance, seeing as they would probably be put down afterwards.

"I'm not sure how long it'll take me, but I'm should be able to find a suitable space for your leogards to roam around," Shiro said. Almost as if in response to what he said, the male leogard padded over to him quietly before head-butting his arm, the rumble of his purr sweet and comforting.

"Is that so?" Lance murmured, eyes downcast as he absentmindedly stroked one of the leogard's whose fur glistened with a faint blue tint. "I'd hoped that I could get someplace really soon, but maybe I shouldn't have expected so much."

"I'm sorry," Shiro said sincerely. The male leogard beside him also looked a bit forlorn. Or, as forlorn as a huge magical cat could look. "I'll do my best to find you a place for them as soon as I can."

"Shiro, your place is pretty big, isn't it? It has a nice backyard, too. I bet these guys would love to run around a place like that. "

The way Keith said it was so nonchalant that he didn't even seem to completely realize what he had said. Instead, he was quite focused on a red-hued leogard who was circling around him inquisitively.

Dr. Holt, though, was much more intrigued by Keith's statement than Shiro hoped he would be.

"Well, Shiro, if I'm recalling correctly, your house is quite large! In fact, I think it would be a perfect place to keep these leogards so they stay stimulated and happy enough to avoid trouble." Dr. Holt turned his head towards Lance, eyes shining. "Would that be ok?"

"If my leogards like it, I don't see why not," Lance replied. His expression, too, was excited with a hint of deviousness pointed Shiro's direction that Shiro wasn't sure he appreciated.

"And then you'll help teach us about vampires?"

"Of course! I don't go back on my promises."

Shiro didn't even have time to sigh before Dr. Holt turned back to him, gaze imploring. "Would that be ok, Shiro?"

In the face of Dr. Holt's hopeful face, Shiro couldn't say no. He was able to give Keith a brief _look_ , though, which Keith just returned with a casual shrug. He always did like to watch Shiro squirm.

With a sigh, Shiro finally answered. "Yeah, that's fine with me. Let's see if the leogards like it, and we'll move on from there."

Dr. Holt let out an excited shout as he turned towards Lance, chattering away a mile a minute. Keith only raised an eyebrow at Shiro, taking in the sight of the male leogard once again fussing with Shiro, this time by gently running the length of his body against Shiro's legs.

And then Lance, from where he was speaking with Dr. Holt, glanced up at Shiro for a moment before giving him a big toothy grin, canines bared and glinting, expression soft and grateful.

Shiro suppressed the urge to sigh again and instead tried to think positively. He hadn't come here prepared to have a vampire and a couple of mystical wildcats moving into his house, but he supposed it couldn't be all that bad. Lance seemed like a nice enough guy, friendly and bright, while the leogards were so well-trained that, despite their imposing size and strength, they hadn't shown any signs of dangerous behaviors so far.

And, it might be nice for a change to not live all alone in that large house, even if just temporarily.

So, with a sharp nod to himself and a deep breath, Shiro met Lance's smile with one of his own. "Do you want to introduce your leogards to my house now, then? And if they like it, Keith and I could help you pack your stuff up afterwards."

From beside him, Shiro could see Keith's mildly offended expression at being involuntarily volunteered. Shiro only responded with a 'tough shit' look of his own. Keith deserved it, as far as he was concerned.

Shoving four adults and four leogards into a car and carriage proved to be hectic, and it involved getting one of the large transport vehicles from Special Investigations. The problem wasn't getting the leogards into the carriage itself, but more so from the way they whined and begged for Lance's attention from the back after realizing Lance wouldn't be traveling in the carriage with them.

"Sorry, but it's for your own safety, you know. There aren't seatbelts back there," Shiro said, wincing at a particularly pitiful cry. Who knew that such intimidating creatures were actually huge crybabies? Shiro would've probably been more endeared if they weren't so _loud_.

"I know, but don't you feel bad for them?" Lance asked, looking through the rear window sadly.

"The ride is a bit too short for me to really feel all that bad for them," Keith grumbled. "We've only been here for 20 minutes, and they're already whining about it."

Lance scrunched his nose at Keith angrily before responding. "Well, that just goes to show how much they like me and how great of a breeder I am, right?"

After another 20 minutes of sad leogard sounds, they finally made it to Shiro's house, leogards in tow and cautiously roaming around the premises.

"Oh wow," Lance breathed as he joined his leogards in walking around the place. "When they said you had a nice house, I thought they meant a nice two-story, three-bedroom house with a nice backyard. I didn't know you actually had a mini-mansion." He turned his attention away form his wandering leogards back to Shiro. "I didn't know being in Special Investigations paid so much. Maybe I should consider joining the force."

Shiro chuckled, opening the backyard gate for the leogards. They seemed less wary as they trotted through the gate, smelling the trees and plants littering the yard. "The pay's really not bad at all, but not so great that it could afford all of this. I actually inherited this estate."

Lance hummed in acknowledgement as he followed behind his leogards. They spent some time exploring the backyard, smelling everything and rolling around the grass. Dr. Holt watched them with obvious delight, while Keith hovered around with mild interest.

"How big is this house? And how many acres of land do you have?" Lance asked.

"I think it's about 6800 square feet? With about 10 acres of land around the house."

Lance let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Very nice. It must be a bitch to clean, though."

"Oh definitely. I have a housekeeper to help with that, though."

Eventually, the leogards grew tired with the backyard. Instead, they scampered over to the door to the house, looking at Lance expectantly once they found it locked.

"Sorry, sweeties, this isn't my house. I can't just let you in. It's his." Lance pointed at Shiro, and, as if on cue, the four leogards turned their hopeful eyes onto Shiro instead.

They were almost as bad at Shiro's old dog. In fact, considering there were four of them now, it was probably worse. So, with a resigned sigh, he quickly moved to open the door.

Excitedly, the four leogards burst into his house, running here and there, smelling and pawing at Shiro's items, Lance following quickly behind.

"No, Flava, don't touch that! And Caerul, don't open that door!"

As Shiro witnessed the chaos that was rapidly overtaking his house, he vaguely registered Keith and Dr. Holt joining him in watching it all unfold from the patio doorway.

"So, what do you think?" Dr. Holt asked, grinning. "They're a bit rambunctious but very sweet, aren't they?"

"Rambunctious is putting it lightly," Keith said, openly smirking from the knowledge that he was the one who had started this whole thing. "Guess they haven't learned yet that curiosity kills the cat," Keith said, voice rising in a crescendo as he watched Lance physically pull one of the leogards down from where it was leaning against a teetering shelf.

"Hey! Rubra is still a baby, ok? All babies are curious! It's how they learn," Lance called back.

"Doesn't look like much of a baby to me," Keith responded.

"And you're a bit small for an adult," Lance quipped back.

"I'm taller than you!"

Shiro decided he was going to just ignore them in favor of keeping an eye on the roving leogards. The older leogard pair did seem a bit more subdued. The male leogard, in fact, had ceased his exploration and instead chose to pad slowly over to Shiro, head tilted and eyes questioning as he sat in front of Shiro. Carefully, Shiro stepped forward through the doorway and was met with a gentle head-butt from the leogard awaiting him.

"I can't deny that they are pretty sweet," Shiro said. He reached his flesh hand in front of the leogard, giving him a chance to sniff it before running his fingers through his mane. It was soft and silky, deep black and smooth. He purred under Shiro's touch, and Shiro knew that he had lost.

"So, how about it then? Do you think you'll be able to handle having a few visitors in your house for awhile?" Keith asked. Another one of the leogards, Rubra, Shiro thought, was now circling around Keith curiously.

"Shiro, I just want you to know, you really don't have to do this if you're uncomfortable with this," Dr. Holt said. "I don't want you to feel forced into this."

Shiro was so engrossed in the leogard in front of him that he almost missed what Dr. Holt said. When it did finally register, he couldn't give Dr. Holt much over than a small shrug. "At this point, I think it'd be too cruel to say no."

Lance should've been too far away to hear Shiro, but he flicked his head Shiro's direction at his words, fangs bared as he smiled. "Really? You sure?"

"Yeah. That is, if your leogards are satisfied with the place?"

"Oh, they love it! There's so much here for them to explore." Lance paused, pulling the older female leogard towards him gently to prevent her from opening a nearby drawer. "But don't worry, they'll figure out soon enough to stay out of stuff. I'll make sure of it."

"That's settled then!" Dr. Holt exclaimed with a smile and clap of his hands that briefly startled another of the younger leogards, Flava. "We'll help you get your stuff packed up and moved out, and you'll teach us about vampires, then?"

"Sounds good to me!" Lance said. Even the leogards looked delighted. They now had their happy and purr-filled attention locked onto Dr. Holt, who was also more than pleased to pet them to their heart's content.

All of them except the male leogard, who still sat lax by Shiro's feet.

"Hey, Lance. What's this guy's name?" Shiro asked.

"That's Furvul, my alpha male. He's more good boy than anything else, though, so you don't have to worry about him posturing or spraying everywhere." Lance walked over to them, squatting down to give Furvul's mane a hearty ruffle. "He's usually not so fast to warm up to people, though. I hope you feel special knowing that."

Shiro barked out a laugh as he watched Furvul roll over and expose his stomach for Lance to lavish attention on. "To be honest, I'm feeling a lot of things right now."

This time it was Lance's turn to laugh. "Well, at least now 'special' is one of these feelings."

Shiro watched as Rubra leapt towards Keith, knocking him down so she should purr loudly in his face from on top of him. Beside them, Dr. Holt laughed while Flava dipped her nose into a drawer now that Lance wasn't there to stop her. This was more excitement than his house had seen in quite some time, but Shiro kind of liked it.

"You've got a point."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure how i feel about this first chapter, tbh!!
> 
> i hope it's not too slow, but more exciting stuff should happen soon
> 
> thanks for reading and let me know what you think!
> 
> if you want to talk to me or are interested in a writing commission, you can find me on [tumblr](https://fever-d-dreams.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, some of you may have noticed that I’ve changed the pairings for this story! this might turn some previous readers off, which is completely understandble, but I thought about the course of this story and thought that making it a shklance story would add a few interesting dynamics! I hope some of you will still enjoy this story, and don’t feel bad if you feel the need to stop reading bc of the new pairings!

"So," Lance began, looking up at Shiro expectantly. "What exactly did you guys want to know?"

Shiro glanced back at Lance before his attention was subsequently drawn to the hastily-packed boxes around him. All in all, Lance didn't actually have much stuff. Most of his belongings consisted of fairly standard necessities and plenty of stuff for the leogards, including a hefty crate of toys.

"Whatever you can think of, I guess," Shiro said. "But you don't have to tell me right now. We can wait until after you finish getting yourself settled in."

"Oh," Lance said, eyes glinting and fangs bared through his smirk, "but I was under the impression that you would be helping me with moving in and everything. So, I can just tell you stuff while you help me unpack, right?"

With the way Lance was looking at him, not to mention how the four leogards were sniffing and huffing at Shiro impatiently, he figured that saying no wasn't really an option.

"I'm kidding," Lance laughed. It was loud but prettier than Shiro expected. "My leogards are plenty smart enough to help my finish unpacking faster than a satyr can chug a bushel of wine."

Shiro had no idea exactly how fast a satyr can drink a bushel of wine, but he did notice that the leogards were, in fact, quite good at unpacking. Despite their large and powerful frames, they opened Lance's boxes gently, leaving no dents behind. They padded around Shiro's house quietly, Lance's things perched lightly in their mouths, as they went around putting things away. Shiro was finally starting to get their names down, and it was interesting to watch them, now that he knew who was who.

Flava was apparently in charge of handling all of Lance's kitchenware, while Caueul stalked into one of the bathrooms with Lance's impressive stash of toiletries and skin creams. Then there was Rubra, fussing with Lance's clothes and tripping over them every now and then as they hung from her mouth. Every so often, Lance would lay a few more clothes on top of Rubra's back. In response, Rubra would snort out a complaint before going ahead and putting them away, regardless.

It was almost funny, watching the small troupe of such beautiful and strong creatures roaming around Shiro's house as they ran errands for Lance. Though, considering how Lance slathered them with caramel-thick affection, Shiro figured that they didn't mind.

Furvul, on the other hand, was more than content to lounge on the bed of the room Lance had claimed as his own. He sprawled and yawned as he watched them, eyes dark and blinking slow.

"Come on, big guy!" Lance exclaimed, throwing himself gently on top of Furvul. Furvul grunted lightly at the sudden weight before purring and bumping his head lightly against Lance's shoulder. "Stop lazing around and go help your wife put stuff away."

Slowly, Furvul rose with a yawn. The way he jumped off the bed seemed tedious, and Shiro suspected that Furvul is putting on a show of it all, like a young child groaning and grimacing at having to help with the dishes. And, like a proper mother, Lance settled with giving Furvul a firm pat on his rump to help spur him along.

Except, all Furvul ended up accomplishing was stalking over to Caueul to head-butt and run his body against hers before they both started sitting, cuddling, and generally letting everyone know that they were officially out-of-commission.

Lance clicked is tongue and sighed. "Well, there go my little love-bugs again."

"They're mates, then?" Shiro asked, picking up some of the stuff still left behind. At least there wasn't much left now.

"Yup! They're my two star leogards that I've been breeding ever since I got into the business," Lance answered as he walked towards the door leading to the backyard, box of toys in hand. "Leogards mate for life, you know. It's kinda cute, isn't it?"

Looking at the way Furvul and Caueul purred at and groomed each other, Shiro was inclined to agree.

"So it's no wonder these two are so attached," Lance continued. "They'll only ever  
have each other, after all."

"But that's a bit sad, isn't it?" Shiro asked, echoing Lance's previous question.

Lance glanced over at Shiro with his baby blue eyes, but now Shiro noticed that they were rimmed red. "I think love's always a bit sad."

The spent a bit longer unpacking Lance's stuff before they discussed Lance's life as a vampire over a hastily-made dinner.

"So, I was thinking about what Dr. Holt said the other day, about how you guys think vampires are masters at seduction and whatnot," Lance said, fork tinkling on his plate. "I said that that wasn't true because it's mostly not, but then I realized that maybe it also wasn't necessarily wrong."

"How so?" Shiro asked.

"We have a bit of an enthralling ability, though it's nowhere near strong enough to make people lust for or fall madly in love with us, nor can we completely take control of someone," Lance explained. "Most of the time, it just allows us to make people more suggestible."

"So, you can manipulate people, to a certain extent."

"Well, when you put it that way, that's just one part of our manipulation powers I suppose," Lance responded. "We can also manipulate others' emotions a bit, and, if we've drunk enough blood recently, sometimes we can even cause temporary hallucinations."

"The emotions thing doesn't let you manipulate someone into falling in love with you?" Shiro asked.

"Nah, stuff like attraction is too complicated for that. The emotions I'm talking about are usually limited to the universal six."

"Universal six?"

"Oh, you know, the universal emotions, like happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and shock."

Shiro nodded, swallowing down his food before speaking again. "And all the stuff with bats, sunlight, and garlic are false?"

"Completely false, obviously, and pretty lame, too. How else would I have gone around in the middle of the day if I was weak to sunlight?" Lance paused to gesture at himself widely. "And how else would I able to keep such a nice tan if I couldn't go out and lounge in the sun?"

"That's true."

"Our senses are also a bit sharper than humans', I think. It's hard to say for sure, but, based on the fact that you never seem all the bothered by the way the leogards whine and growl sometimes, I assumed that your hearing is just too bad to notice it."

"No, I haven't heard anything like that. At least, not all that often."

"So I guess there's that, too." Lance plopped his last bite of food into his mouth, fangs peeping out from between his lips as he chewed. "The blood-drinking thing is true, but that's not because we're undead creatures or anything who can't produce our own blood. We just have a mutation that causes our blood cells to regenerate slower than it needs to. To make it worse, our abilities require blood to use, so we need even more if we're going to be using them a lot. I usually don't, though, so it's usually not that much a problem for me."

Lance shrugged, scooping some of the forgotten food off of Shiro's plate with a smile. "So, that's really all there is to it. At least, that's all the important stuff. I feel like you really got the short end of this deal, all things considered. All I have to do is talk to you for a couple of minutes about myself, but now you're stuck with me and my four leogards terrorizing your house." Lance's eyes glinted prettily, the blues almost completely overtaking the red as he smiled and flashed his fangs at Shiro.

Shiro chuckled. "It's fine. This house is too big for just me, anyway. I'm more than happy to let you stay until you find someplace more permanent."

"And I'll do my best to be helpful while I'm here," Lance replied. "I'm not going to be a complete freeloader, after all."

"I have no complaints, then."

Overall, Shiro had expected Lance to just help around the house for a few weeks before he went off back to his own life, leaving Shiro to go back to his own usual, mostly boring life. Except, Lance ended up getting a completely different opportunity to be of use a few days later after Dr. Holt had insisted that Lance come over to the Special Investigations Department to have a few tests run on him.

"They're all non-invasive and completely safe, of course," Dr. Holt had assured, poking around at Lance and insisting that he drink some suspiciously green drink, "and there should be no side effects afterwards."

Lance had agreed easily, cooing at his leogards for a bit before leaving with Shiro that morning. The day had started quite normally, with Shiro plopping down in his office to a pile of paperwork regarding all the new creatures and species that had been popping up since the fall of the barrier. It was all interesting, Shiro would never be the first to deny that, but the sudden influx of work was still more than a bit tiring.

And then, there was some giant snake giraffe creature attacking the building, and that just threw a wrench in everything. Shiro had no idea what the thing was, but luckily Lance was there, green drink in hand, and far more knowledgeable.

"Oh," Lance said, leaning his head down over Shiro's shoulder to get a closer look at the creature from the window. "It's a questing beast."

From here, Shiro was reminded that Lance, in fact, was not an undead entity. Gentle heat emanated off of him as his breath tickled the back of Shiro's ears, and something about it all was somehow both soothing and rousing. He hastily tossed that thought from his mind, however, at the sight of Keith skidding to a stop at his office doorway.

"Shiro, we're being called out to deal with the this weird snake horse," Keith said hastily, already holstering his gun. "We gotta go."

Shiro nodded and stood up quickly, very nearly elbowing Lance's jaw on his way up. Just as he was about to shoot a quick, "Sorry, duty calls," Lance's way, Lance was already beside him, speaking.

"I'll go with you," Lance said. The tone of his voice held quite a bit of finality, but Keith scoffed and bristled at it regardless.

"And what are you going to do?" Keith asked.

"Hey, at least I know what it is!" Lance exclaimed, already trotting alongside Keith and Shiro. "And, besides, I'm already here. What's the harm in me trying to help you fight this thing off?"

"What about your leogards? If you get hurt?" Shiro asked.

"Well, they have you to take care of them now."

Part of Shiro wanted to argue against that. Except, he knew that Lance was probably right based on the way that Lance's leogards, especially Furvul, had begun to slumber and snore in Shiro's room every now and then.

Up close, the questing beast was even larger than Shiro had expected, and from here he could see that it wasn't exactly part horse or part giraffe. While the monster's head and neck was clearly that of some kind of snake, but it's body had a build and spotted pattern reminiscent of a leopard, while its feet represented the hooves of a deer. The sound it make was also horrendous. Its screams representing the simultaneous baying and snarling of a dozen bloodhounds, and Shiro could hardly think straight with how deafening and ugly it all was.

Not to mention, it was quite vicious. It attacked hard and _fast_ , and there were already a few fallen agents near its feet, and even more were wounded.

"So," Dr. Holt began, appearing out of seemingly nowhere to stand beside them, and Shiro was almost convinced that Dr. Holt himself was some kind of mythical creature, "what exactly is this beast, Lance?"

"It's called a questing beast," Lance replied, just in time for the four of them to duck behind a sturdy slab of concrete as the questing beast struck out towards them. "It's a nasty thing born from an incestuous relationship."

"Excuse me?" Shiro asked.

"Hey, I'm just saying it like it is. I don't make up the rules."

"Incestuous relationship between what?" Keith asked, and Shiro almost felt like he was helping to complete Shiro's own previous, half-formed question that was derailed from disbelief. "A snake and a horse?"

"Look, none of it is a horse, ok? And I have no idea. I think they sprout from the stems of a weeping willow every time an actual child is born from incest, or something, but I don't know for sure. It's not my incestuous love child, after all," Lance huffed as they dodged another quick strike from the questing beat.

"Thank God for that," Shiro said under his breath.

"Anyway, any suggestions on how to take one down?" Dr. Holt asked. At least he seemed fairly level-headed, despite what was going on and Lance's mildly shocking description of the thing.

Even he flinched along with the rest of them, though, when another body was sent flying near them.

"I mean, I think you should probably be able to just... shoot it until it dies?" Lance replied, though it was distinctly hesitant and unsure. "I mean, that one guy from the Round Table defeated one just by stabbing it a bunch of times, so I figure using plenty of bullets should work, too."

"You don't even know how to defeat one?" Keith demanded angrily, despite the fact that he was already drawing his gun.

"Do you really think I've ever seen a questing beast in person before this, let alone fought one?" Lance demanded in return, ducking down quickly as he turned to glare at Keith. "I lived in the city, too, you know, before the barrier fell and you humans decided to stick me in a dinky apartment before forgetting about it me, perfectly assured that you had done enough for me!"

"Hey! And it was us same humans that helped strike a deal with you to live with Shiro, wasn't it?"

"As if _you_ did anything!"

"Alright you too," Shiro warned. There was too much going on for him to have to deal with them quarreling, too.

Shiro took out his gun and aimed for the questing beast, just as Keith had. Only two of his six shots hit, though, and none of them seemed to have done much damage. He had always been better at close range fighting, especially with his enhanced arm, but something told him that trying to approach the beast right now wasn't the best decision. "Let's just calm down and try to get this over with before any real damage is done."

"Fine," Lance and Keith said in unison, and it would've been amusing how similar the two of them were if they weren't in such an unfortunate situation.

But they were in quite the unfortunate situation, and neither Shiro nor Keith's bullets were accomplishing much. Even Dr. Holt's rifle, more high-powered and high-tech for a more important guy in the department, had only managed to deter the questing beast for a few moments at a time.

"So, shooting it is obviously not helping us all that much. Lance, can you try to use your mind manipulation powers on it?" Shiro asked Lance. "Maybe if you distract it with some hallucinations for long enough, we'll be able to close in on it and get some hits on it that are actually effective."

"It's hard to do that kinda stuff to beings that don't have the same higher-level of thinking processes like we do," Lance answered. "And I don't know if I have enough blood for that. It's been hard to get some good blood packs ever since the barrier fell." Lance paused for a second, expression thoughtful as he stared at Dr. Holt's rifle.

" _But_ I can try something else. I don't know if it'll work, though," Lance admitted.

"I'm up for anything, at this point," Shiro said.

Suddenly, the air around them was hot and heavy and nearing unbearable after a few moments. It felt like the stifling steam of a sauna, and Shiro hated saunas. He never felt comfortable while inside one, never felt particularly cleansed afterwards, and he especially hated the way people would stare at his prosthetic arm and scars as he sat there naked and vulnerable.

Shiro was so caught up in those thoughts and the mere fact that he found it hard to breathe that he hadn't even realized that Lance was aiming Dr. Holt's rifle at the questing beast, poised like a sniper and so stoic compared to his usual happy and carefree attitude, until he was already firing.

The shot that came out was most definitely not a regular bullet. It blazed red and hot, and trails of flames flew around it it, cutting the air in a sharp burn as it flew. And it flew _fast_. Much faster than their regular bullets had, so quick to the point that Shiro barely had a chance to even see it before it was piercing straight through the questing beast's snake head.

The beast's snake head practically melted from how hot the bullet was, and it fell immediately, twitching twice before it stilled. Shiro was sure that the other agents were probably looking at them in absolute shock and confusion, and Shiro, too, couldn't find it in him to tear his eyes away from Lance.

"Amazing!" Dr. Holt said, twirling to gaze at Lance with those signature inquisitive eyes of his. Shiro wished he could also turn off his fight-or-flight senses that easily, but he was still running high and anxious. "What was that, exactly?"

"Magic," Lance whispered. He was leaning back against the wall behind him, breathing quick and shallow.

"Shiro didn't tell me you could use elemental magic, too," Dr. Holt said.

"That's because I didn't tell him." Lance's voice was quick and his breath even more labored than before. "I forgot... I forgot to tell him. It's been so long since - " Suddenly, Lance's voice was trembling and he slumped down, all but hyperventilating.

"Lance?" Keith asked, kneeling down beside him. He placed a hand on Lance's forehead, but, even from here, Shiro could tell that it was hot. "Are you alright?"

"It's been so long since I've used magic like that," Lance continued quietly, leaning against Keith for support. Shiro suspected that he wasn't even aware that he was doing so, but Keith allowed it without complaint. "It takes so much blood that I usually just... don't. But I had to."

Now that the adrenaline was falling and he got the chance to take a better look at Lance, Shiro could see that he was, in fact, quite pale. In between rapid and shaky blinks, Shiro could also see that Lance's eyes were blood-shot and tearing. He looked so pitiful like that, and it hurt.

"Do you need more?" Shiro asked before clarifying. "More blood? One of us could give some to you. Right, Keith?" He looked at Keith, and Keith nodded quickly in return. "We don't mind."

"No," Lance croaked. He was so tired that he couldn't even look up at Shiro properly. Instead, his pupils quivered as he looked straight on ahead. "No, it's fine. I don't need it. If I just rest for awhile, I'll be fine."

Now it was Keith's turn to speak. "Lance, if you need some blood, it's fine by us. We promise."

But all Lance did was shake his head at time tiredly. "No, you guys just don't get it. I can't."

It was Dr. Holt's turn to look concerned. The other agents below them were slowly helping each other, picking up the wounded and injured. Shiro didn't bother to pay attention to whether or not any of them were dead. He didn't know if he could handle knowing, especially with Lance looking so sad in front of him.

"Either way," Dr. Holt finally said, picking himself up gingerly. "We should go get him inside and situated comfortably somewhere."

With a nod, Shiro carefully moved to pick up Lance. At first, Keith was there, trying to support Lance's weight, too, but Shiro just silently pulled him out of Keith's grip. Lance was even lighter than he looked, and his usual tanned skin was clammy and dipping into off-white territory from how pale he was.

Keith gave Shiro a questioning look at Shiro's insistence to take Lance away himself, but Shiro wasn't in the mood to answer it right now. The adrenaline crash that was pulsing through his now exhausted body, and all he wanted was to just get Lance back somewhere safe so he could be happy and cuddling with his leogards again. Eventually, Keith let Lance go so Shiro could scoop him up for himself to find him someplace to rest in the slightly damaged building.

Once it was obvious that Lance was not going to get much better soon, Dr. Holt and Keith ushered Shiro out of the place with the promise that they'd take care of all the trouble there. Afraid of letting Lance out of his sight for a second, Shiro hailed a cab home instead of driving himself. The cab driver was clearly not human, from the way his eyes were slitted, and Shiro was taken aback for a second, if only because he hadn't expected a magical creature to have gotten the chance to take up jobs so easily.

Humans were a bit greedy and distrustful of others, after all, even amongst themselves.

Regardless, they made it to Shiro's house quickly enough. As soon as Shiro managed to fumble his door open, all four of Lance's leogards were bounding towards him excitedly. However, at the sight of Lance so small and weak in Shiro's arms, they stilled and began whining, pawing at Shiro's legs to try to get a better look at Lance.

"I know, I know," Shiro whispered, trying his best to imitate the gentle way Lance often cooed at them. It was obviously not working, however, because Shiro's voice was just shaking too much. As he set Lance down on his bed, he found a moment in-between his concern to also feel alarmed with how harried he felt over Lance's condition.

'It's because he's my guest, and he got injured because he was basically doing my job for me,' Shiro reasoned to himself as he fussed with Lance's pillows before tipping water down his throat with trembling hands.

"Lance. Please, if you really need it, it's totally fine if you drink some of my blood. _Please_ ," Shiro whispered, pressing his wrist into Lance's face in an attempt to try to coax him with the scent of his blood, or something. Lance did mention that he had better sense, right? Did that include smell?

Nonetheless, Lance flinched away from Shiro's wrist with a weak moan before saying, "I _can't_."

Shiro let out a heavy sigh before running a frustrated hand through his hair. It hurt, though, considering that fact that his hair was tangled and matted with sweat after their encounter with that damn questing beast. Still, he was growing increasingly frustrated with Lance's behavior; he had no idea why Lance was being so cagey with drinking Shiro's blood. Did he simply feel bad about it because Shiro's offer had come from a moment of desperation? Fueled by fear or not, Shiro would've much rather have his blood sucked in favor of watching Lance writhe and suffer like this.

So, too tired and stressed to properly think about what he was really doing, Shiro gripped Lance's hair and pulled his head up, eliciting another strained moan from Lance.

"Listen to me, Lance, either you tell me where I can get some blood packs from you, or you drink from me," Shiro said. Caueul beside him was raising a fuss at Shiro's rough treatment of Lance, but Furvul seemed fairly ok with it, considering how he was holding Caueul back from pulling Shiro away.

"I don't know," Lance whined. He was so drained that he could barely open his eyes wide enough to actually look at Shiro. "I don't have any, and I haven't been able to find a blood bank close by ever since the barrier broke."

"Than I guess you're drinking from me."

Lance whined again, and this time he even began to thrash in Shiro's grip. From fear of genuinely hurting him, Shiro moved his grip from Lance's hair to the back of his neck. Still, he refused to let up or let Lance go.

"Please, Lance," Shiro whispered, and this time sadness instead of anger was bleeding into his anxiety. "If all it takes is for you to drink some of my blood to get better, I want you to do it. In fact, I'm _begging_ you to."

Lance glanced up at Shiro from between his long lashes, and the red rim around his blues was thicker and darker than before. They stared at each other for some time, Lance quiet and worrying at his lips and so small and tired. Shiro, in return, tried his best to look encouraging, but he was sure that he probably looked more haggard and desperate instead.

Suddenly, Caueul let out the saddest, most forlon sound as she jumped onto the bed to head-butt and chuff at Lance. She, too, looked imploring, and, with that, Lance finally gave in.

At the tilt of Lance's head, Shiro moved his free wrist to Lance's slowly opening mouth. The pinprick of Lance's fangs on Shiro's wrist felt like nothing more than fingernails as they grazed over Shiro's skin. However, when they first broke skin, Shiro felt the pinch and sting.

And then, immediately after that, Shiro was awash with pleasure. Just a hint of it, though, like the first hesitant touch of a new lover as he caressed and kissed up and down Shiro's body. It felt nicer than Shiro had expected, and he thought that, once again, maybe Lance hadn't realized just how _seductive_ his abilities could be.

After gulping down several long, smooth pulls of his blood, Shiro could already see the color returning to Lance's face and the brightness returning to his eyes. At the same time, he didn't miss the low moan that escaped from Lance's lips as he continued to suckle.

As Lance continued to drink, he drew closer to Shiro and looked up at him again with those pretty eyes again, still half-lidded, but this time it was due to pleasure rather than pain. Lance's eyes rolled back as he continued to mewl around Shiro's wrist, and, from the corner of his eyes, Shiro could see a bulge growing in Lance's pants.

Shiro couldn't tell whether the light-headedness that was creeping over him was due to the loss of blood or the sight of Lance taking so much pleasure from drinking his blood. Either way, Lance drew away after a few more deep swallows, and, as soon as he did, he was letting out the prettiest, most wanton moan that Shiro had ever heard. Lance slowly licked away the blood still on his lips, fangs glinting red, and the sight was far more aroused at the sight of Lance hungrily licking up his blood than he had ever imagine he could be. Lance was shaking slightly, legs quivering with what Shiro was sure an oncoming orgasm.

With that in mind, Shiro was sure that he should've left, but Lance just looked so good, and he was looking at _Shiro_ so good as the rest of his body continued to tremble, hands still gripped onto Shiro's slowly-bleeding wrist. Then, without even being touched or touching himself, Lance was arching off the bed, groaning so loud that he was practically screaming, before collapsing back down breathless. He continued to stare at Shiro as he gasped for breath in the wake of his orgasm, but his eyes were so dark that Shiro wasn't even sure that Lance was truly looking at him.

At least Lance's eyes were on Shiro's face, though, as opposed to his crotch because now Shiro was definitely hard.

After a few moments passed, Lance's eyes gained a semblance of clarity, and, when he finally spoke, all he said was, "I'm sorry."

Shiro almost choked in his haste to respond. "No, no, it's fine." And it was because Lance was sad now, and, in that moment, he felt like anything would be fine as long as it made Lance happy again.

But then, like a young boy caught with his pants at his feet, Shiro stumbled out of Lance's room towards his own because his own shame was creeping over him so fast and deep that he could hardly breathe. He hadn't even noticed that the leogards had vacated Lance's room until he all but tripped over Flava in his haste to just get away from surprisingly pretty, yet so obviously, pretty Lance.

As soon as he got into his room, Shiro slammed the door shut and quickly set to work removing his own pants. He was so hard with the sound of Lance coming ringing in his ears, and he needed it, needed to come, too. While he jerked himself off, Shiro tried so hard to think of anything else, but all that came to mind was the sight of Lance arching off the bed and looking at Lance with those blue eyes, blood-stained lips, and teasing fangs.

It didn't take long for Shiro to finish, coming with his own guttural grunt as he jerked harshly into his palm. It was one of the best, most intense orgasms of his life, but when he finally came back to his senses, all he could feel was guilt.

"Fuck," Shiro whispered to himself, flopping back down onto his bed with a tired huff. "What have I gotten myself into?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and please let me know what you think!
> 
> if you want to talk to me or are interested in a writing commission, you can find me on [tumblr](https://fever-d-dreams.tumblr.com)


	3. Chapter 3

Shiro felt sick.

He blinked himself awake and nearly gagged against the dried sheen of mucous plastered all down his throat. Something was also weighing him down, he found.

An extra blanket. One of his softest. An old thing he didn’t touch often because he was afraid of getting it dirty.

Had he put that on last night during a strange haze of regret and confusion? He supposed it was possible.

He swallowed, tasted the stale hue of his own saliva, and desperately wanted water to wash it down even though he was in no mood to actually get any.

For a moment, he thought of asking Lance for help. Even in their brief stint as housemates, Lance had been a great asset, past the giant magical cats roaming through his house.

Except, if Shiro was going to face Lance again, as he inevitably had to, he preferred to do so when he wasn’t at risk of puking his last threads of sensibility out right in front of him.

So, Shiro hauled himself out of his bed with a groan and felt how cold the floorboards felt beneath him. They were cold, and he felt hot, but he couldn’t wait until he got back into bed, swaddled beneath the covers and asleep again where he didn’t have to worry about these things anymore.

For now, though, he needed to get out. He hoped the walk did him some good.

He stood up with a choked sigh, stumbled as his vision blurred, and careened straight until his bedroom wall before steadying himself against the edge of the dresser.

There was a nasty scrape against his side. He could feel it, and he groaned again with his next tentative steps.

He just hoped his wall didn’t have errant bloodstains on it. They were a bitch to get out, after all. He knew as much with the deepest intimacy from that one time that errant werewolf had managed to get in.

It was even harder to clean blood off fine walls with only one arm. Even with two now, it was a hassle he’d rather avoid.

In hindsight, perhaps he deserved a bit of trouble for his efforts today.

The house was quiet as he left his room. Lance’s leogards were elsewhere, probably sleeping outside in the yard as cats were want to do, maybe off frolicking somewhere blessedly far because, in his current state, Shiro was not well-equipped to play with them, haggard as he was. They probably weren’t very interested in having anything to do with Shiro, either, with how much they adored Lance.

He drank the image of himself being mauled by leogards down until he felt halfway alive.

Up until now, he had studiously avoided looking at himself in any mirrors because he knew he must look terrible. Except, now he was staring himself down through his tinted, distorted reflection in his microwave as he waited, wondering what to do next.

As he expected, it was not a pretty sight.

His hair was disheveled, his nose red and wrinkled, and his under eyes bags were carrying more luggage than they knew what to do with. Even his skin looked sallow through the tinted black. Like this, he looked more like the vampires of tales than Lance ever did, and his scar looked brighter than ever.

The look was also reminiscent of Shiro’s ashen face in the hospital, and he had never known Keith to cry as much as he had that night.

The poor thing. He couldn’t stop staring at Shiro’s scar, even though Shiro wished he would have.

Everything was reminding him of the past today, it seemed.

He rubbed absentmindedly at his shoulder where flesh met metal and sighed again. If he kept this up, he could breathe enough air to revive a dead horse.

Or maybe a kelpie, if they even breathed air.

How much oxygen did a vampire need?

More, if they couldn’t replenish their blood cells as quickly, or less from virtue of adaptation?

Shiro hoped Dr. Holt knew. He wasn’t sure if Lance wanted to answer his questions anymore.

He glanced over at Lance’s bedroom door and found it still shut tight. Leftover on the handle was a small streak of red, comprised of both blood and semen, if Shiro remembered correctly.

He bit his tongue until it ached.

Slowly, quietly, and with painstaking care, Shiro crept over to Lance’s door, washcloth and disinfectant in hand. The stain was crusted, and chunks flaked onto the floor as if they meant nothing.

They were surprisingly light upon Shiro’s fingertips, tiny little things that could barely hold on. They felt weightless, even though they shouldn’t have been, and something about that infuriated him.

He was hot. The fever was rising, probably, and he was growing more and more wearied by the minute. The backs of his eyes burned, and the dry rub ache in his throat was creeping back with a vengeance, but he couldn’t just leave this here for Lance to see.

And Shiro didn’t want to see it anymore, either.

He scrubbed harder and harder and found the knob turning.

“Shit,” he hissed quietly, but he was apt to torture himself, apparently because he peeked in against every well-meaning thought of his telling him to turn away _now_.

Close the door, silently now, and don’t let Lance see you until he wanted to be seen. That was only fair, after all - the least Lance deserved.

Shiro wasn’t being fair.

He looked.

Inside, the room looked empty.

He peered in further and wondered if he was on the brink of ruining it all with just this.

But the room really was empty. Lance was nowhere to be found, and the bed sheets were folded. The old, stained ones, with no new ones in sight.

Shiro took a step forward and fought valiantly against the wobble of his ankles and the spin of his mind. He looked around and found, atop the dresser, a handwritten note.

Lance’s handwriting was, evidently, not much more than a hasty scrawl across crisp paper, but it was legible nonetheless.

‘Shiro, Dr. Holt asked me if I could come in today so he could run some tests on me after using magic and stuff. So, I went ahead and caught a ride with Matt to the magical agency. I thought about waking you up so you could get ready for work, but you didn’t look so good, so I decided to just let you sleep. You also looked cold, so I went and grabbed you another blanket. I hope that’s ok. I’m sorry if it wasn’t.’

The next few words were thoroughly scrawled out, but Shiro could vaguely make out what they had once been from the lingering indents they left on the back of the sheet. He traced them with his fingers and slowly spelled them out from back to front, wondering what Lance’s hands had been like when he had written them.

‘I’m really sorr -‘

‘I deeply apologi-‘

‘I understand if y -‘

‘I just need a bit more time for my leoga -‘

The scrawls stopped, and the words began again.

‘I’m also sorry for what happened. We can talk more about it when you feel better. I’ll figure something out for my new living arrangements, promise.

Thanks for being so nice to me.’

And Shiro couldn’t help it. His head was pounding. The heated chills were getting to him, and he could hardly see the words anymore.

He took the piece of paper, so innocuous and slight, and felt something wholly visceral in the immense gratification he got from the shred. He tore it up until there was nothing more than simple scraps, and he wanted to just toss the pieces on the floor to be forgotten, but this Lance’s room. He couldn’t just make a mess like that.

He should’ve cleaned up the leftover mess on Lance’s door before Lance even woke up.

“Come on, Lance,” Shiro whispered to the mockingly empty space before him. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

He took the scraps and dumped them into his fireplace. He stoked the cinders a few times before letting it light up nice and tall. Then, he wandered back to his bedroom, grabbed the blanket Lance had picked for him, before padding back to his kitchen with the tiniest hint of vigor he could manage.

In one cupboard was medicine, and in the other there was tea. He gulped down the pills dry and dozed upright as the tea steeped. It was pointless, anyway, because each flinch awake was just another sign that the tea would go cold, untouched, but going through the motions made Shiro feel the slightest hint of ok.

Dragging the blanket with him, he trudged over to his couch and watched the fireplace burn. He’d left only the tiniest bit of firewood inside to make sure it wouldn’t burn for too long, which was great because he was already falling asleep again, tea left on the coffee table.

Shiro was leaving messes all over the place.

He closed his eyes, held them shut, and then opened them again because there was something in front of him.

There, Furvul stood in front of the fire, stoic and as beautiful as ever. He tilted his head to the side like a pup, and his mane shimmered with the embers.

Shiro wondered if getting attacked by a leopard was worse than a werewolf bite.

Furvul chuffed, and he walked forward curiously.

“Sorry, I can’t play with you right now,” Shiro croaked. His eyelids were already dropping, and his throat felt even worse than before. “I’m not really up to it.”

Furvul’s head flipped to the other side.

“How’d you get in here, anyway? I thought you guys liked being left outside. Did Lance let you in, or did you just figure out your own way back into the house?”

Furvul blinked, and it felt like a yes. To which question, Shiro wasn’t sure, but at least Furvul wasn’t getting ready to tear out his jugular.

Now at a tentative ease, Shiro simply couldn’t stay awake much longer. The fire was crackling, Furvul was doing something akin to purring, and his mother’s blanket was as soft as he remembered.

He quickly fell asleep to the thought of Lance and Keith, what they might be doing that day, and what he’d possibly say to them later while hoping that he didn’t dream for now.

 

* * *

 

 

“Shiro’s sick?” Keith asked.

In front of him, Lance nodded. He was smiling, too, but it was a pinched pack of nerves that seemed so unlike Lance. At least, it was unlike the Lance Keith knew. As such, it probably didn’t mean much of anything because Keith hardly knew Lance, but it still looked suspicious and had Keith’s hackles raising.

And, if there was one thing Keith had learned through his work, it was that his instincts, even if not correct, usually weren’t wrong, either.

“You sure?” Keith continued.

Lance dropped his smile, and his brows furrowed into a loose stitch that was set to fall apart with nothing more than a light breeze.

“I think so,” Lance said slowly. “I don’t know how else to describe it. He felt hot and was sweating all over, but he was also shivering? That sounds like sick to me. At least, one of your human sicknesses, according to Matt.”

Keith frowned. “What are vampire illnesses like?”

“A bit more bloody, I guess, and a lot colder. Sometimes, there’s even a wraith involved, but that’s pretty rare. I’ve only ever had one come by once, and he was much nicer than I expected, really.”

Keith shook his head and let his burgeoning thoughts lay for now. He had other matters to attend to. “What are you doing here then?”

Lance bristled, but it was weak, and that was definitely strange. “Dr. Holt asked me if I could come in for more tests. He wanted to see how I was after using my blood magic like that.” Lance sighed. “So he’s drawing even more blood.”

“Well, I can see why he’s curious. You look much better than you did last afternoon. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d be up and walking like this for another few days with the state you were in without any blood packs around.”

Lance blinked, and Keith found a crack. It was small yet, but it was there, and Keith wanted to know what else was beyond it.

“Oh, well,” Lance began hastily, “a good night’s sleep really does work wonders, you know. A vampire’s blood does replenish faster the less he moves, after all.”

“Of course,” Keith soothed. He wasn’t particularly good at being good cop like Shiro, though, so it ended up sounded like a scrape against smooth marble. Lance, in turn, flinched away ever so slightly, and his fangs flashed for less than a moment.

“Anyway, I better go find Dr. Holt and get these tests over soon,” Lance said. “Is that ok with you?”

“You don’t need to ask for my permission.”

“Oh. You’re right. Well, I’ll be off then.”

“Good luck.”

With quite the impressive haste, coupled with long strides and a sharp turn of the corner, Lance was gone, and Keith was free to try to find some of the answers he was looking for.

He was able to locate Matt quickly enough, nestled neatly at his lab bench as he went over slides of whatever stained tissue he had at the moment.

“Matt?” Keith called from the doorway.

“Sorry, I’m busy right now!” Matt answered quickly.

“I just have a few questions,” Keith said. “You won’t need to leave your bench at all.”

“Lay them on me, then.”

“Lance told me just now that he came in with you because Shiro was sick.”

“Yup! Lance called me over because he didn’t think Shiro would be up to coming into work today, so I went by super quick to pick him up.”

“Did you see Shiro?” Keith asked. “Like, was he actually sick?”

“Oh yeah,” Matt hummed. He paused as he changed slides before resuming. “He had a fever, the chills, and everything. He seemed pretty out of it, too, so I didn’t try to wake him up or anything.”

Keith frowned. “Shiro hasn’t been so much as sniffly in the past eight years. He doesn’t _get_ sick.”

Matt shrugged. “Who knows? It might’ve had something to do with that questing beast yesterday, or maybe with the whole barrier falling apart in general. It has been hectic lately.”

“Then why didn’t you or Lance stay behind?” Keith demanded. “What if he has some weird, magic-induced sickness that needs medical attention?”

With a sigh, Matt swiveled tightly in his chair to look up at Keith, distinctly unmoved. “All I meant by that is that maybe the stress got to him. It looked like a perfectly normal human cold to me.”

“But you don’t know,” Keith insisted.

Matt wrinkled his nose. “Come on, Keith. Shiro’s fine. I know you two like to be overprotective and dramatic about each other, but you’re going to stress yourself out into getting sick if you keep this up. Besides, weren’t you the one who told Shiro he should go ahead and host Lance for the time being?”

“Yeah, but that’s because I thought finally having company would do Shiro some good, that was before living with a vampire almost killed him.”

“Oh, please, Shiro is not dying.”

“I’m gonna call him anyway,” Keith said, “and, if he doesn’t pick up, I want you to come with me to check him out.”

“Deal. Now, please leave me for awhile before I start getting second hand separation anxiety from you.”

Keith grumbled out a quick goodbye before he was heading out back to his own desk. He fished out his cell phone amongst the piles of folders there before hastening his way into the lounge room.

Calling Shiro was easy. He was Keith’s first and only speed dial contact, after all. Even without that, Keith had his number memorized so well that even his rotting corpse could type it in.

Waiting for Shiro to pick up, however, was hard.

The phone rang hollow three times before Keith heard the tell-tale click of a response.

“Hello?” Keith said. “Shiro? Are you there?”

Silence.

Keith hated silence.

“Shiro?”

A cough sounded. Then, Shiro’s voice, hoarse and tired, followed.

“Keith? What’s wrong?”

Keith bit back his sigh with plenty of teeth. “Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m calling to see how you’re doing. I heard you got sick, and I just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t some lethal magical disease or something.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just some regular cold or infection, but thanks.”

“You doing ok? You want me to bring you anything or help you with anything?”

“I’m fine,” Shiro said, even though he sounded anything but. “I think I just need water and some rest. The medicine I took earlier is also helping.”

“Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” A stop. “Hey, Keith, how - How’s Lance doing?”

“Lance?” Keith questioned. “Lance is doing just fine. In fact, he’s doing much better than I thought he would.” He breathed and let his words linger before continuing. “Is there a particular reason that he’s doing so well?”

Shiro had a fairly impressive poker face, Keith knew. He had seen it in action more than a few times himself, and it was always impressive to see how Shiro was able to school his features into something so nice and smooth even when he was seething. Even more so because Keith was, admittedly, pretty shit at it.

On the other hand, Shiro had never been the best at controlling his breathing during the tough moments.

Shiro’s breathing was already labored, short and compact through the phone’s receiver, but now it had a quickened edge to it that spoke far more truth than Shiro sometimes liked to.

“Shiro?” Keith coaxed. Gently, but also with a single quick prod for extra emphasis.

“I’m not sure,” Shiro eventually replied, breath heavy and hitched. “I guess vampires can just sleep off blood loss sometimes?”

Keith hummed, considering. “That’s funny. Lance said the same thing, in a way. Did you two plan that story together?”

“Maybe we’re just telling you the truth,” Shiro mumbled.

“I’ll believe that when you two get better at lying,” Keith said. “Are you going to tell me what happened, or should I just go and ask Lance directly?”

“Keith, please, just calm down. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“I think it is. What if he’s hypnotized you with his vampire magic, or something?”

“I promise you that he hasn’t.”

“That’s exactly what a hypnotized person would say.”

Shiro sighed. “Keith, you’re being ridiculous. This is something between me and Lance, which means it’s something that Lance and I will have to deal with. It doesn’t involve you, so you really don’t need to have anything to do with this.”

“But that’s still not going to stop me,” Keith declared sharply because, to be frank, that casual dismissal hurt. “Anyway, I’ll come visit you later tonight. Make sure you drink lots before then.”

“Keith, wait -“

Too late. Keith hung up without another thought before setting out to find Lance because he hated being pushed to the side, especially when it came to Shiro.

He worried at his bottom lip impatiently. If Shiro were just more open about some things, so many other things would be so different. But, he wasn’t, not without some careful work on Keith’s part.

Except, with Lance, Keith didn’t mind being a bit more blatant.

Thankfully, Lance ended up being easy to find, so Keith didn’t end up chewing straight through his own mouth.

He was alone in the kitchen, halfheartedly chewing on a barely-cooked slab of meat. The sight had Keith’s stomach twirling in strange ways.

Quietly, he made his way behind Lance.

“Lance -“

For someone with super hearing, Lance was pretty easily startled, and, apparently, a startled Lance was also a Lance who enjoyed kicking people in the stomach _hard_.

“Oh, shit!” Lance exclaimed, but that was Keith’s line because that fucking _hurt_. “I am so sorry! Are you alright?”

“Do I look alright to you?” Keith hissed. “Fuck, you didn’t tell us that you had super kicking strength too.”

“I don’t. At least, I don’t think I do.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

This was unfortunate. Keith had planned on approaching Lance with his best bad cop face on, but he doubted he looked very intimidating like this, doubled over with pain and struggling to breathe as Lance hovered awkwardly over him.

Regardless, that didn’t stop Keith from asking the difficult questions.

Like, “What did you do to Shiro last night?”

Lance stilled, and Keith felt emboldened.

“So you did do something,” Keith said.

“Yeah, I guess. Not technically, but, I mean, I did something, or _didn’t_ do something that I should have, so…” Lance said lamely.

“And?” Keith said. “What exactly did you do? Hurry and spit it out so I can get a better idea of how to help him.”

Lance frowned terribly hard. “Is he that upset about it?”

Keith cocked his head to the side and stopped bending over at the waist. “He’s upset about something, at least.”

“Oh, Fae,” Lance breathed. “I should’ve - I should’ve told him sooner. If I had, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Shiro was just trying to help me, I know, but if I had just explained everything to him beforehand, then he would have known better.”

Keith narrowed his eyes as he watched Lance’s frenzy bloom right in front of him. This was not playing out the way he envisioned.

First of all, he expected Lance to throw an entirely different kind of fuss over Keith’s accusations. He didn’t seem defensive or offended at all, though. In fact, he was more akin to a messy ball of distraught nerves than anything else.

Secondly, Keith had expected Lance to fall at his feet, wibbling about putting Shiro under some dark magic mind trance, or something to that effect. This mess-by-omission thing he was referring was wildly different.

“Lance, can you please explain to me in detail what you’re talking about?” Keith asked.

“The blood-sucking orgasm thing,” Lance said.

Keith blinked once. Then twice.

For something so outrageous, Lance was oddly lax about it, in Keith’s opinion.

“Excuse me?” Keith finally managed to choke out.

Lance blinked back, eyes wide and expression searching.

“Isn’t that what we were just talking about?” Lance asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure anymore.”

“But I thought you said Shiro told you about it and was upset about it.”

“Well, if we’re being pedantic, Shiro didn’t really tell me much at all. He just sounded upset,” Keith explained lamely.

“Oh. I see.”

They stared at each other through the silence, and Keith didn’t know what to make of it.

“Would you like to talk about it more anyway?” Lance asked quietly, eyes downcast and eartops glazed red. “Just so you know more and stuff.”

“Not now,” Keith gusted. “Let’s both talk to Shiro about it later. I think I probably know what it's about, anyway.”

Keith felt extremely exhausted, extremely abruptly, and he was more than ready for this day to just end so he could chew Shiro’s ear out for worrying him like this.

Before that, though, he wanted to chew _both_ Lance and Shiro out. He deserved as much.

He also deserved to be without more magical surprises for at least a few days, but Keith often felt like he didn’t get what he deserved.

He walked out of the room, Lance awkwardly in tow, and found himself coming face-to-face with a bucket of blood and body pieces. They were small, filled with an eerie purple, and didn’t smell great, either.

Apparently, dead and decaying pixies smelled the same as rotten human bodies.

Dr. Holt looked absurdly pleased with his collection.

“What are those?” Keith asked.

“Pixie dust,” Dr. Holt responded mundanely, “according to Lance.”

Keith whipped around to look at Lance incredulously.

Lance looked back with a serene expression of indifference.

“I’m sorry, did you really think that pixie dust was sugary candy?” Lance asked.

“Those are pixie /sticks/. Also, that isn’t dust at all.”

Lance shrugged. Suddenly, he was all lax and lackadaisical once more. “I mean, once you grind down their bones they become something like dust.”

Keith refused to let himself imagine exactly what that meant.

Instead, he said, “I wasn’t aware it was… routine for you to grind down dead pixies into dust.”

“Pixies have great healing capabilities,” Lance explained. “Especially when brewed into potions and such. They don’t taste particularly good, but I like to mix a few drops into my leogards’ meals to boost their immune system.”

He flicked his wrist far too casually, in Keith’s opinion, as he continued. “Because taking care of a sick legoard isn’t any fun.”

“Of course not,” Keith mumbled.

“Lance, do you think a human would be able to also consume pixie dust?” Dr. Holt asked, peering at the bloody mess with the kind of curiosity only the most devoted scientist like himself could manage. Keith just wanted to gag.

“I don’t see why not,” Lance answered. “Pixies aren’t much more than contained magic. They don’t even have sentience, and the humans in my world are able to consume them just fine.” He stopped to consider. “Well, the humans in my world already have magic inside them, but that just means humans can tolerate magic, yes?”

“No,” Keith said emphatically right as Dr. Holt chirped out an eager yes.

“Dr. Holt,” Keith started with personally insufferable patience, “the humans of Lance’s world have been exposed to magic their entire life. There are simply too many variables to consider before we start going around consuming pixie bones.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Dr. Holt sighed. “I was hoping we could maybe give some to Shiro to help him recover faster, but I guess we’re just going to have to test this out another day.”

“Would you like to try, Keith?” Lance asked. “I promise, it really does make you feel quite nice afterwards.”

Lance dipped a hand inside the bucket with nary a thought. Then, without even looking at the small pixie leg in his grasp, he wrung his hands and Keith winced at the resulting crunch. True to Lance’s words, the crushed bones really did look like dust.

Lance dipped an absentminded finger into the bone floating atop blood and let it rest on his tongue.

“Oh, these must’ve been young pixies,” Lance mused with a smack of his lips. “They’re sweeter than usual.”

“Wonderful,” Keith deadpanned. “But no, thank you. I also think Shiro will be just fine without it.”

“Are you sure?” Dr. Holt questioned. “Matt told me you were quite worried about him earlier.”

Keith bit back his own aggravated stream of consciousness at that. Trust Matt to be prone to gossip, even if it was just with his dad.

“I will admit that I’m pretty worried,” Keith said slowly.

“Then maybe you should go early to check up on him. Either way, Lance needs a ride back, and I’m done with him for today,” Dr. Holt said.

Keith turned to Lance. “Do you not have cars in your world?”

“We do. Or, we did, but they were powered by magic and will. I don’t understand your engines and brakes,” Lance explained.

“Fascinating,” Keith and Dr. Holt breathed. Except, Keith’s was distinctly less impressed.

Regardless, he stood up with a sigh, studiously avoiding the bucket of guts Dr. Holt was still holding so dear.

“Fine, lets go.” Keith glanced down at Lance with brows raised. “We both probably have some things we have to discuss with Shiro, don’t we?”

Keith couldn’t actually hear Lance gulp, but it was a close thing.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Lance stammered. He looked nervous.

Keith was just eager to finally get this situation resolved. For as mature as he was, Shiro sure was bad at having those much-needed conversations, it seemed.

“Let’s go, then. And we're not taking that pixie bucket with us, so stop staring at it like that. It's creeping me out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think :)
> 
> if you want to talk to me or want to know more about how you can support me, you can find me on [tumblr](https://fever-d-dreams.tumblr.com)


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